TripAdvisor’s Liability Issue and 11 Other Top Digital Stories This Week

Sarah Enelow-Snyder, Skift

- Jan 12, 2020 1:30 pm

Skift Take

This week in digital news, a lawsuit against TripAdvisor tests the limits of its responsibility to travelers, and check out our 2020 megatrends for a big-picture look at Google’s role in travel, the future of payments, and more.

Tour Injury Lawsuit Tests Whether TripAdvisor Is Liability-Free: Bulletproof legal immunity for “platforms” like TripAdvisor seems to have softened in recent years. What’s certain is that as tours and activities go more mainstream as an option on booking sites, intermediaries will have to put more effort into vetting the tour operators.

The Megatrends Defining Travel in 2020: From the new role of subscription travel to the importance of urban living innovations and the impact of Gen Z, these are among the megatrends in travel we’re watching in 2020.

Intrepid Partners With Ctrip to Popularize Green Trips in China: Both partners seek growth when the home markets aren’t expanding as much as before. Intrepid needs Ctrip’s user base of 300 million while Ctrip needs Intrepid’s kind of journeys. But doubtful if sustainable travel will instantly be the norm in China. It’s a start.

Aventri Goes Outside Event Tech for New CEO: New leadership comes to Aventri as it continues to battle rival Cvent in the event tech marketplace. Perhaps a view from outside the sector can pay dividends as the tech provider works to further refine its platform.

Coupa Is Gunning for SAP Concur’s Share of the Travel Expense Business: Most corporate travelers would rather think about anything else than booking and expensing travel. That’s why companies are scrambling to help reduce that pain point for road warriors. We expect Coupa, Certify, Chrome River, and SAP Concur to acquire more travel tech companies to help seize the opportunity.

Another Tech Company Goes After Concur: Can Coupa really take on SAP Concur? It has a chance, mainly due to its products and services that are outside the traditional purview of travel management.

How Much Did Big Travel Companies Spend on TV Ads in 2019? Airlines, hotels, and booking sites have divergent reasons for leaning into or out of TV advertising. Attracting more direct bookers is always a goal, but sometimes competitive reasons, or the emergence of new platforms, skew the TV budgets.